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Hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and checks along with parishioners’ credit card information were stolen from Pastor Joel Osteen’s church over the weekend, leaving the house of worship “heartbroken” over the missing funds.

In a statement put out by Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, megachurch officials said that they are working with authorities to fully investigate the crime, noting that the theft was limited to tithes given to the church over the weekend.

“We were heartbroken to learn today that funds were stolen from the church over the weekend,” the church said. “This includes cash, checks and envelopes containing written credit card information, and it is limited only to those funds contributed in the church services on Saturday, March 8 and Sunday, March 9, 2014.”

Houston Police Department spokesman Victor Senties told the Houston Chronicle that $200,000 in cash and $400,000 in checks were taken from the church safe sometime between Sunday and Monday. It was a Lakewood employee who initially discovered the theft.

Lakewood recommended that those who contributed over the weekend watch their bank accounts for any suspicious activity in the coming days, though church leaders also noted that the crime did not involve an electronic data breach and that information outside from what was stored in the church safe wasn’t compromised.

“The integrity of our congregants’ information is of utmost importance to us,” the church added.

Police are investigating surveillance footage for leads. It is currently unclear how the safe was accessed.

As for the missing money, Lakewood said that the stolen funds were insured and will be restored.

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While I’m not a fan of Joel’s style, Lakewood has massive community outreach just like the church we go to. Feeding the poor, helping to hide abused women from their husbands, addiction counseling and more. The money they take in does a lot including missions in other countries. The man runs a multi-million dollar corporation essentially and as a pastor his job is pretty much 24/7. A lot of work goes into preparing messages each week and I frankly don’t see anyone complaining of how much the head of Exxon or Microsoft pulls in each year. I saw a reference to the Bakers…..Joel and his wife travel the same way we do….they have no private jet nor do they have a car and driver. Do they have a nice house and cars? Yes they do and for the work they do I don’t begrudge them that.

Personally I think his whole always positive, never any condemnation shtik is a little phony but obviously there are a LOT of people who like what he’s doing and it’s not like they lock the doors and refuse to let you leave until you give them money. People give because they believe in what the ministry is doing. And just to put things in perspective…..Lakewood is around 30,000 people attending each week. If each person gave just $20 that is $600k. Not exactly fleecing the flock is it?